TRANSPORTATION GRIDLOCK
The Legislature operates without information? Only 70 road miles added to state highway system in 11 years!!

From 1986 to 1997 only 70 lane miles were added to the state highway system but 21,619,000 more vehicle miles were traveled—an increase of 38% miles traveled in the last eleven years!! That’s right only 70 more miles of state roads for 21,619,000 additional vehicle miles.

Is it any wonder that the Federal Highway Administration rated Washington state as the second worst congested level among all 50 states? Central Puget Sound is in a three-way tie for the worst rush hour traffic among 70 regions in the nation according to the Texas Transportation Institute.

EFF was surprised to find out that in the two-year budget that ended on June 30, 1999, the legislature authorized more money to be spent on operating programs of the state ferry ($259.6 million) than highway maintenance operating programs ($247.5 million).

Nearly everyone, except maybe key legislators on the Transportation Committees, would agree that we have serious transportation problems in this state. And what is the Legislature doing about it? And what have they been doing about it?

The Legislature has the responsibility to write a transportation budget and provide oversight over it. Unfortunately, the Legislature has delegated this responsibility to a few legislators and staff who have apparently ignored their responsibilities.

Earlier this year, EFF contacted Senator Mary Margaret Haugen, Chair of the Senate Transportation Committee and Representative Ruth Fisher and Maryann Mitchell, Co-Chairs of the House Transportation Committee to find out some basic information regarding the past budgets for the Department of Transportation.

Our questions were basic information that knowledgeable legislators or their staff would have to know in order to write a budget. The questions were:

1. What was the total DOT operating budget for the last ten years by biennium (87-89 through 97-99)? Of the total, what is the breakout for new roads; road maintenance; rapid transit; ferries; light rail and regular rail?

2. What was the total DOT capital budget for the last ten years by biennium (87-89 through 97-99)? Of the total, what is the breakdown for new roads; road maintenance; rapid transit; ferries; light rail and regular rail?

3. How much money have cities and counties received for roads over the last ten years, how much have they spent, and how money remains in their road budgets?

4. How many new road miles were added by biennium over the last ten years to our state highway system? The Washington Roundtable’s recent report states that "between 1987 and 1996 our state added only 47 system miles of new highways." Is this correct?

Unfortunately, none of the three legislators or their staffs were able to answer any of the above questions. But what is worse, they didn’t even seem to care about them. The information at the top of this highlighter was obtained from the Department of Transportation and the Washington Roundtable.

Responses to our inquiries were both fascinating and frustrating. One Co-Chair of the House Transportation Committee, sent our request to a staff person who said we should check the state library for some of our information. He also referred us to another Legislative committee where we were told that the breakdown is not easy and we should call the Department of Transportation or someone at one of the legislative transportation committees (back to where we started).

Staff for the other Co-Chair of the House Transportation Committee said they would be surprised if we received a response while the legislature is in session. I guess they have a low regard for the state public records law which requires a response in five days.

The Chair of the Senate Transportation Committee sent our request to the Secretary of the Senate who said those files were available, but it would take some time to find the record and he would try to respond in two weeks. Nine days later we were informed that the same staff person who sent us to the library would handle the reply. So once again we received no useful information.

Finally after we threatened to sue the Legislature to obtain these documents, a reluctant staff member from the Legislative Transportation Committee provided the information. We know everybody’s busy, but frankly, we are shocked that this basic information is not readily available. From what information is the legislature making multi-billion dollar decisions about transportation?

Thank goodness the Secretary of Transportation had some of the information which he provided to us. But even his staff questioned the accuracy of some of the data they provided to us. "Some doubt has been cast upon the validity of that data [city and county expenditures] but for now it is the best information available to us." We believe that only the legislature can ensure accurate data reporting by state and local governments and they are not doing the job. We seriously question how the legislature can write a budget without this information and what measures, if any, they are taking to hold agencies accountable. We noted the absence of meaningful public hearings before either the House or Senate Transportation Committee this year on dealing with the impact of Initiative 695.

To us, it appears that the Legislative Transportation Committee, House Transportation Committee and Senate Transportation Committee are more of a problem than part of the solution. The key legislators on these committees seem to have a love-affair with ferries, heavy rail, light rail, freight mobility, transit, and grain trains and have neglected their responsibilities to reduce road congestion. They have not held DOT, cities, counties, or transit districts responsible and accountable for the funds budgeted.

We urge legislators to abolish the fiefdom which now exists with these committees and put them under the jurisdiction of the Chief Clerks of the House and the Secretary of the Senate. Gas tax revenue should no longer be used to fund these committees or for legislative junkets.

Legislators of both parties should demand more accountability from the transportation leaders in the legislature or replace them. This state can no longer afford gridlock by the legislature on transportation issues.

Prepared by Bob Williams, Senior Research Analyst, (360) 956-3482 or effwa@effwa.org

Evergreen Freedom Foundation P.O. Box 552, Olympia, WA 98507 Phone: (360) 956-3482, Fax: (360) 352-1874 Email: effwa@effwa.org